So I am a hipster, i know what’s happening.  I think of myself as someone “in the know.”  I pretty much assume I know all the venues for fun. I even have an old-timey mustache.

I know nothing. I am like a child. Thursday night, I had this moment of severe jaded perspective. It was as if I knew nothing about the social scene of my city. I felt like a tourist wandering my downtown. I discovered art walk. I know that countless of my friends have been going for years. I understand, it’s this thing that’s been a fixture of downtown for years and years. I really have no need to hear anyone’s “I told you so’s,” please. I get it.

I had been asked to do some lighting for some VIP tents and a street artist’s park for Citizen LA for this guy George that it seems all of my friends know, and I have never met. And then to the after-party, at a venue/loft downtown I’ve never been to. There were DJs I’d never seen, playing music I didn’t recognize…

I realized, in a moment of sublime face-palm: I am nowhere near as cool as I thought I was.

This is a good thing. It means I get to discover some new things. I can’t wait for Art Walk next month! I am also completely open to new things again! Bring me to the light.

Just so you know, this is the event to be at this weekend. It’s going to be incredible. It looks like we are getting a clear night, too!  I’m heading to set up now.

The light of love has you now.

To those that know me, I am almost never down. I’m one of those upbeat, happy people. You know, the ones that drive you crazy with their positive attitude and glass is half full drivel. Sometimes you want to punch me in the face, I am so happy. 

So after a pretty incredible unshakable upswing last week while prepping Homecoming and entertaining a very incredible woman from out of town, I was laid low by the party and the girl going away. On a scale of 1-10 of depressed, i would say it was a 3. No tears, really. But I was just a little bummed, on that verge. Now that for me is pretty big. About as bummed as I have been in a year. 

I am all about climbing out of muck. It’s kind of my thing.  It’s nice, too, when my world supports this plan. So yesterday I spent the day at my Cabin, my favorite place on Earth. I came home and dressed it up a little and went down to The Edison where my good friends at Lucent Dossier were performing (as they do every Wednesday now). As I walked up from my rockstar parking spot, Y2 was in the process of being escorted in by one of the nicest bouncers I’ve ever seen. I bypassed the line and went into my new favorite night spot in Los Angeles. Surrounded by friends and beautiful clowns I had the most amazing time. And without a doubt, it is the most brilliantly decorated space in the city. I love it there. How do I become a member? It seems as if there should be a speakeasy kind of membership. 

And they have this boiler room. They ahve made it into this tea room. Last week Erin was in there giving handmade  chocolate and tea. This week, it was the dead letter office. Very official and perfect. So as we filled out the proper forms and our signatures were stamped in triplicate, she gave me my lost letter. I somehow knew it was a love letter. That’s what I really needed that night. 

My Peach, 

I love you so. Let me count the ways. 

 

1. Your kind heart. 
2. Your wicked sense of humor. 
3. Your generous nature. 
4. Your dashing good looks. 
5. Your sharp taste in clothing. 
6. Your ability to love unconditionally. 

 

 Please be my Valentine. <3

XOXOX

Buttercup

How did this Buttercup know?  A perfect missive really. Thank you Erin, Dana and Lucent Dossier. You got me out of my funk with a little play.  I think I am going to frame it. 

I finished the night off by getting Wolfie a little loopy from an Absinthe healing potion (red bottles are always healing) and then wandered off to Fred 62 for a late night conversation about economic collapse, bug-out bags together, how a $700 billion bailout will cause massive inflation, what kind of bullets to buy, getting out of the throwing underground party business, investing in silver coins because they are most portable, predicting when and if things will get really bad,  and general practical guy shit.  Godsdamn, I love that guy. A truer friend, I have never known. 

I love my life. It is so ridiculous. I can’t even be miserable for a whole week. It’s silly.

We hate to do this, and we have grappled with it all morning. 

It seems that last night, a rave used our venue and blew out the location. A neighbor came by an gloated about dropping a dime on the last party, and promised in no uncertain terms that he would gleefully do the same tonight. Nice, right?  

We looked at other locations, but at the very last minute, it’s challenging. Make no mistake, when it comes to planning a party, venue is the absolute hardest part of what we do. 

Upon finding no acceptable alternatives, we are pulling the plug and accepting what losses we have already expended. We truly hope that we have caught you early enough in the day to plan your evening. We will refund all money from presales, obviously. But, please accept our humblest of apologies. 

You are fortunate, though. Tonight, Space Island is also throwing a party, Beyond the Boundaries. I am sure it’s going to awesome, and it is where I will be going. Go to:  http://www.spaceisland.org/space-island-decom.html for presales and more info. 

I am sure you will have a good time tonight, whatever you do. Just think of it like your actual high school homecoming dance, a lot of hype followed by major disappointment.

Why are we here guys? Is it to have a career? Is it to have a relationship? Is it to be healthy, or rich, or good?Is it to throw a good party, or dance your ass off?   What is our path and why do we walk it?  Why exist?

Hanging out with Rif always gives me an interesting perspective on life. It is good to be reminded sometimes of who you can be and who you are. Rif’s worldview sees the world as an epic battlefield where angels are constantly doing battle with the dark forces of the universe. I relate. I often see myself as channeling some higher, perfected power. It’s always fun to run with others who can see themselves in a similar light. I like being an angel. It works. 

We humans are uniquely equipped to create our reality. We tell ourselves about how the world is constantly. We blog, creating the universe as we go. The way the world “is” is directly related to how we keep saying it is. If god is some vengeful landlord, we will find proof for that. If our landlord is a big jerk who never does any repairs, surprise! it’s true! if people all lie, it seems to us that no one tells the truth. If I can do no wrong, then… It just goes on an on.  Of course it is my belief that the stories we tell ourselves create our reality, so there you go. True for me. 

So what if we ourselves that it is divinely inspired, that some higher power guides us, elevating us.  What if those moments when we are most alive are those moments when the veil is thinnest between that angelic self and our Malkuthian earth bodies. I hung out with people who fly last night. I met angels who fed me chocolate and tea.  I connected with old friends in a different time. The barriers between the worlds get thinner when there are more of us gathering together.  I always have fun when I get to adventure with Rif. 

This is why we gather.  All that energy and self expression, it feeds that spiritual well. We gather together and we can draw from it so easily.  Don’t you feel more alive when surrounded by the friends who you love and admire. Focus that. 

This weekend, you will see your people. Decom, Homecoming, Space Island (although, I for obvious reasons prefer you come to Homecoming, so I can see you), or wherever you are, and it is up to you to elevate it. Find your highest self. Find the highest self in others. Connect with that. Play together. Find those young angels inside these adults with jobs and lovers and worries. Join together and find yourselves in dance and laughter and magic. It’s up to you. Lets show this city what happens when gods, goddesses, angels, demons, monsters and faeries gather together in the heart and elevate it. This weekend, lets burn our own man away, and leave only the highest within.

See you there. It’s up to you. 

Today, I got pulled over in the rental Liberty by an LAPD officer in South Central named officer Divinity. He gave me a ticket. He was pulling over car after car for a no left turn on red sign that I completely missed. This sucks for a few reasons. Firstly, tickets blow. Second, I’ve gotten tickets for this one before. Those no right turn signs just don’t make sense to my primitive brain.  So I can blame no one, but myself.  

But it was funny, being pulled over by Divinity pointing at me from the middle of the street.  he was very polite, too. Not vengeful at all. Matter of fact and lawful mostly.  He smiled. I liked him. 

But, I like to look at things like this and find the deeper thing. Like what did Divinity keep me from doing? What accident was avoided, what truck or bullet with my name on it. Did that little detour lead me to the perfect future? Was something interrupted?  My court date is on 9-11. dun dun dun! The message here is clearly: “Pay attention! or attention, pay!” 

It is a challenge to give up the wrongness of getting a ticket for gods know how much. But ultimately, it’s a matter of trust that it will all work out.  Life has this tendency to do that. 

And I’m going to at least go to the court date and hope that Divinity has better places to be.

I don’t want to go anywhere anymore.  Sorry westside, sorry mom and dad, sorry friends in San Fransico and San Diego, sorry cabin.  Gas has nearly crested $5 a gallon, and going anywhere has become expensive.

So I look to carpooling. To go anywhere, I look for people to travel with. Even though they are not paying for the gas (I haven’t asked for gas money since I was seventeen, but now I am thinking about getting one of those stickers for my car). It’s nice to feel like you are doing something!

Living in LA, the thing I keep wondering is when (not if) will gas prices break this city? When will our poor public transport system and super spread out car culture go broke under the financial burden? We rely on trucks for so much of what we take for granted. When will the food and goods stop coming?

Hell, at least it got me to actively carpool.  And, I know I can do more. Here’s what I promise.

• I won’t go anywhere alone if I can help it, even though my house is kind of out of the way, I am sure I can find someone nearby to travel with me.
• I will actively carpool to work when possible. Most of the crews (except wolfie) live on my side of town. There is no reason to not drive with a buddy. Besides, maybe I can get them to drive.
• I’m going to drop my speed. The optimal speed on highways is 55-65 mph. This one will be tough. I will also need to start minding my acceleration. It’s there where the most gas is consumed.
• Alas, I am going to have to remove my roof rack. Air drag. This might give me an extra mpg or two.
• Track my MPG. Number of miles when you fill up, divided by the number of gallons you put in. I’ll keep a little notebook in my car to track it as time goes by, noting variables.
• More places in one trip. No going out for just one thing. Make lists and group journeys.  Stop at Target to get cleaning supplies on the way home from work, do several meetings in a day, etc.

I had this amazing experience today. At 6:30 PM, I made it from Redondo Beach to my home in Sun Valley in 45 minutes. I took the 405. I took the Sepulveda Pass. I drove on the 101.  There just were no cars out there, at all.

So obviously there is only one conclusion I could come to: The Rapture came, took away all of the pious and left behind everyone else.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture . I am surprised it’s not all over the news, well really, I wouldn’t know. I don’t watch or listen to the news. Maybe I’ll see it on the front page at Starfucks tomorrow or something.  It just seems like nobody really noticed.

What does this mean for us, the fashionable sinners of the new age, now that the most righteous christian fundamentalist have all been swept up into their heavenly vortex of god’s love?  Obviously, a significant relief from the worst rush hour traffic.  I also noticed, a few times, that McDonalds parking lots were also frighteningly empty. But perhaps we will also see a few less holier than thou kind of attitudes! I mean, if you were holier than me, wouldn’t your ass be on the Jesus Spaceship with the rest of the rubes?  Besides, the worst self-righteous ones are gone.  I know that all my friends will be here! Good times!

There is also a chance, however remote, that the reason for the total lack of traffic today can be traced to some other cause… Like maybe that fuel is just about at FIVE FUCKING DOLLARS A GALLON! This is alongside the smug reports of record profits by the oil industry. Maybe, just maybe, people are not able to afford to drive anymore?

I was kinda hoping that our short-timer president got raptured. Hahahaha!

btw: check out the game they made for left behind: http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/12/group_calls_for.html